6 Insanely Complicated Ways Hollywood Tried To Stop Spoilers

We get that the folks behind our favorite movies and TV shows don't want their endings prematurely blown, like some kind of regrettable prom night metaphor. Orson Welles hoped audiences wouldn't guess that Rosebud was a dinky old sled, George Lucas tried to hide that Darth Vader was Luke's dad, and M. Night Shyamalan didn't want people to know that he only had like two or three good ideas in him. But sometimes productions go to absolutely nutty lengths to keep their stories from being found out by the general public ahead of time. Like how ...

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6

Game Of Thrones Sent Kit Harington To Spain For No Reason

Game Of Thrones has always been pretty strict about keeping plots under wraps, thankfully stopping short of burning every copy of the book series and stashing George R.R. Martin in a cheap roadside motel to keep quiet. The final season was no exception, with producers wanting to protect the big twist that everyone would actually loathe it. For starters, in order to block aerial robot spies, the crew obtained a $30,000 "Dronekiller," which is literally a giant gun used to kill drones.

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Producers also reportedly filmed multiple endings, which isn't unusual for super secretive productions, though it does make you wonder how crappy the unused endings must have been. Most ridiculous is what they did with the scene in which (SPOILERS) the heads of all the houses (including the much-maligned House Evian) meet and decide that Bran should be king because ... stories? Anyway, so that nosy fans and paparazzi wouldn't know exactly who was still alive and hanging out in King's Landing in the finale, they forced a bunch of actors who weren't in the episode to fly out to the set. Including the Night King and those Faceless Men dudes.

HBOThey considered bringing Sean Bean back as a misdirection, but figured no one would believe a plot twist where he was unexpectedly alive for once.

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Even Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington, had to schlep all the way to Spain purely to be a "decoy." Since his brooding talents weren't needed, he kept himself busy doing makeup for his co-stars.

Had the show ended with Jon giving his sisters a makeover instead of stabbing his girlfriend-aunt to death, maybe people wouldn't have been so pissed?

5

Avengers: Endgame Messed With Its Trailers

Avengers: Endgame was chock-full of spoilable tidbits, such as Tony Stark's death and Paul Rudd's refusal to bend to the whims of time. Even though this movie was so eagerly anticipated that the studio could've limited its advertising to a crumpled cocktail napkin it with the word "Avengers" written in Sharpie, it still had a full-fledged marketing campaign, complete with trailers. Since the directors, Joe and Anthony Russo, didn't want any key plot elements revealed, they used CGI to change certain moments in the trailer. One shot of Rocket entering Thor's cabin / monument to slovenliness digitally erased Bruce Banner in order to preserve the twist that he was permanently living as "Professor Hulk."

Walt Disney StudiosWhich seems counterproductive, because who wouldn't be at least a little curious about the guy with a PhD in smashing?

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And speaking of Thor, he was conspicuously absent in the trailers, except for a few shots, such as one in which the badass god of lightning is all svelte and short-haired. Which wasn't in the movie itself, and in retrospect, was probably created purely to throw viewers off the scent of the movie's biggest twist: Thor has become a beer-swilling, potbellied slacker with the grooming habits of a Metallica roadie.

Walt Disney StudiosThe thunder god abides.

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Previously, for the Infinity War trailer, the Russos added in a fully animated Hulk, despite the fact that Bruce Banner was stricken with the superhero version of erectile dysfunction for most of that film.

4

The Rise Of Skywalker Crewmembers Might Only Be Allowed To Use Crappy Old Phones

Unless you gave up on the series in order to produce your own fan-funded remake starring only men and set in a friend's parents' condo far far away, you're probably curious about what's going to happen in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. Will Kylo Ren be redeemed? Will Luke return as a Force ghost? Will we learn that Rey's parents are Princess Leia and Lone Star from Spaceballs? Naturally, Lucasfilm doesn't want us to know anything about Episode IX until the movie comes out. How are they preventing Bothan spies from smuggling the movie's secrets off of the set?

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Based on a now-deleted Tweet from second unit director Victoria Mahoney, it really seems like the production is forcing the crew to go full Zack Morris in order to prevent leaks. The Tweet simply reads "#OldSchool ~ #Crew ~ #IX," with a photo of the kind of janky old cellphone you'd expect to see being used by the crew of an early 2000s porno, not the folks working on the biggest film series of all time.

Victoriamahoney/TwitterWe prefer to think of it as an elegant cellphone, for a more civilized age.

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While this hasn't been confirmed, it would make sense that people involved with The Rise OfSkywalker have to use phones that aren't equipped with cameras, the internet, or anything more sophisticated than Snake.

3

The Walking Dead Filmed An Entire Season Out Of Order So People Wouldn't Know Who Negan Killed

Presumably because its showrunners hate your inner peace and happiness, Season 6 of The Walking Dead ended with a fun cliffhanger: Which beloved character gets beaten to death with a baseball bat? With almost the entire cast lined up in front of the psychotic Negan, fans had to wait for months to find out who exactly was going to get Joe Pesci'd on national television. AMC was super-paranoid that the info was going to get out. The network even threatened to sue a fansite for merely speculating on who the victim might be.

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And they didn't just make one or two alternate scenes to throw off leakers. The Walking Dead reportedly shot 11 different versions of the death scene, meaning they filmed one for every single potential victim, which is kind of ... extremely nuts.

And speaking of nuts, director and special effects maestro Greg Nicotero implied that the show was shooting the seventh season's episodes out of order, so that an actor's presence or absence wouldn't necessarily spoil whether they survived or were horribly killed. At least if you somehow guessed Negan's victim, there's no way you saw that "Weird Al" song coming.

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2

A Better Call Saul Actress Can't Let People See Her Hair

For viewers puzzled as to how exactly a lawyer could wind up a morally bankrupt sleazeball, there's Better Call Saul. The Breaking Bad prequel stars Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman (aka Jimmy McGill), Walter White's future attorney and even further future peddler of Cinnabons. Remember how Breaking Bad used costuming to subtly communicate character development? Well, a similar thing seems to be happening on Better Call Saul.

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Fans have noticed that Kim Wexler's hair, in particular her ponytail, clues the audience in to her emotional state in a given scene. Specifically, it's "wound more tightly when she is stressed," and is more "loose" when things are going well. This isn't just a theory. Actress Rhea Seehorn has confirmed that the ponytail is basically her character's mood ring.

Sony Pictures TelevisionMeaning this could be the only show ever to prevent leaks with hats.

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Security is understandably tight for the upcoming fifth season, and Seehorn has stated that her ponytail will once again be an "emotional barometer" for Kim. So even the way she styles her hair could technically be considered a spoiler. According to Seehorn, if she runs into a fan while working, she "can't be photographed in costume," or else people might be able to use her hairdo to "clock what's going on" in the show. Since no one in the cast of Lost ever shaved any clues into the backs of their scalps, we're guessing this is the first time this has ever happened in the history of television.

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1

Twin Peaks Had A White Actress Pretend To Be A Japanese Man

Twin Peaks was that rare network TV show about a young girl who gets murdered by an ancient denim-clad rape demon. As the series lumbered on past its prime, one of the odder developments involved a Japanese businessman character who turned out to be a white lady in a costume that wouldn't seem out of place in a misguided Wayans brothers comedy.

CBS Television DistributionIt's David Lynch in the '90s; best not to overthink it.

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More specifically, actress Piper Laurie's character, Catherine Martell, was seemingly killed, but we eventually learn that she's this random Japanese guy. Apparently this was all the idea of David Lynch, who suggested Laurie could secretly return to the show as "a Frenchman or a Mexican."

Laurie decided on a Japanese character, but to conceal the twist, she wasn't allowed to tell anyone, including her agent or even her family. Insanely, even the cast and crew weren't let in on the secret, which meant that Laurie had to have her four-hour makeup job done at a special offsite lab beginning at 3 in the morning.

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Crazier still, the show even credited a fake actor with the role, going so far as to issue a press release all about new cast member "Fumio Yamaguchi," who worked with Kurosawa on all those movies no one had the ability to Google in the early '90s. Laurie even gave interviewsas Yamaguchi.

USA TodayPresumably only to reporters who wouldn't question a fake mustache that looks like it came out a cereal box.

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Say what you will about Scarlett Johansson, but at least she never took things that far.

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